American exports such as McDonald’s, Hollywood movies and sitcoms have come to symbolize a cultural invasion of Australia.
While Big Macs, Brad Pitt, and canned laughter are often harmless in moderation, not every mass-produced fashion item imported from America is worth keeping.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion” policies in the workplace, for example, have proven divisive both here and in the United States, where they originated.
This nonsense is already being quietly abandoned in the United States, with big business tacitly admitting that it was a failed experiment. but some Australian workplaces haven’t gotten the memo, and staff continue to be subjected to numbing cultural awareness sessions on “unconscious biases” and “microaggressions”.
Large corporations need to stop making these empty, Orwellian claims about “inclusion” and focus on customer service instead of exploiting staff with minority characteristics for marketing purposes.
Instead of focusing on merit, the DEI agenda is actually about having an unhealthy fetish for certain trendy minority groups without actually addressing genuine cases of bigotry like ageism.
The idea that members of a minority group – whether based on race or sexuality – need a so-called “ally” is also downright condescending.
It is simply degrading to suggest that individuals, due to their demographic status, are somehow too weak to speak for themselves and should therefore be treated like children to be singled out.
Not all the mass-produced fads adopted in the United States, which saturate many aspects of Australian life, including “diversity, equity and inclusion” (pictured, Gay and Mardi Gras revelers, are worth preserving Lesbians of 2023 in Sydney)
DEI also divides members of minority groups between those who want to use their minority status to get promoted at work and be visible, and those who are more concerned about their privacy and believe such characteristics are irrelevant.
The idea of highlighting immutable characteristics like race, ethnicity, and sexuality is anathema to the concept of merit by which the best man or woman is hired or promoted.
It would be considered politically far-right for white, straight employees in an Australian workplace to establish a specialist network, and that would surely alienate colleagues who don’t fit those descriptions. Hardly inclusive.
However, apparently for the sake of “equality”, staff are forming groups based on race and sexuality.
Emphasizing the fact that someone is gay or from an ethnic minority also creates the impression among other colleagues that they have only been promoted for public relations reasons or to help a CEO have something to add to their resume.
And it also discriminates against minority employees who simply don’t want to talk about their personal characteristics and just get on with their jobs.
It’s also illegal to ask someone in a job interview about their race or sexuality, but in Australia Larger corporations are actively promoting DEI policies because it is trendy.
Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest property lender, stated it has a “commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest property lender, said it has a “commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion” (pictured, a Brisbane bank branch)
The public is cynical about banks, so in a bid to have a feel-good agenda, CBA has an ‘LGBTIQ+ and allies network’ known as Unity that is apparently designed to ‘champion a culture of inclusion and respect regardless of sex, sexuality, gender and expression’.
Virgin airline has Pride Flights, while rival Qantas has an Illuminate staff network “to facilitate communication between our LGBTQI+ employees and their allies”.
Mining giant BHP has a Jasper program to “drive a safe, inclusive and supportive work environment for all, providing advice on ways to reduce bias and ensure LGBT+ people are respected and valued regardless of their sexual or gender identity.” “.
Surely, who someone is intimate with in the bedroom is a private matter that doesn’t need to be brought up in the workplace.
CommBank, which supported the failed Voice referendum in 2023, also has a Yana Budjari network that “supports First Nations people”.
“This network allows our people to connect in meaningful ways with Indigenous peoples, programs and communities,” he says.
“It is also a safe space for our First Nations people to come together, support each other, discuss community issues and develop their understanding of people power across the company.”
CBA also has a “Mosaic” group described as “our employee-led cultural inclusion network.”
Colleagues who have something in common can connect outside of work hours without this being an officially sanctioned work policy based solely on ethnicity.
But the Commonwealth Bank’s specialist minority groups have demonstrated the failure of identity politics where only some minority groups are more worthy than others.
Australia’s largest bank’s ‘connection through inclusion’ says little about older workers despite having an Advantage network to serve staff “no matter what age or stage of life our people are going through.”
But it has no photographs on its website to illustrate older staff and make them feel “included” and visible, even though an Australian Human Rights Commission survey found that 58 per cent of older workers it looking for work suffered age discrimination.
More than a quarter of respondents over 50 in this survey reported experiencing age discrimination, and gay and ethnic minority employees would also be affected.
The United States, cradle of the DEI movement, is reconsidering the issue.
Motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson announced in August last year that it no longer targeted minority-owned suppliers and would stop offering social training to staff.
Retailer Walmart, beer maker Molson Coors, auto giant Ford, tractor maker John Deere, home improvement chain Lowe’s and whiskey distiller Brown-Forman are also reducing their participation in diversity programs.
It is time for DEI, nothing more than a cynical public relations exercise, to be abandoned forever.
Employers can ensure that staff are not discriminated against based on their birth characteristics, without having to seek validation through DEI policies.
Australia has more serious labor market issues to deal with, such as a productivity crisis, so large corporations should focus on that and drive more value for shareholders rather than succumbing to the latest activist trend.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion need to be eliminated forever so that a true meritocracy can flourish in which characteristics like race, ethnicity, and sexuality are irrelevant and the best man or woman gets ahead in their chosen career.
Let’s get toxic politics out of the workplace.